Rahul Gandhi, MP, has urged the Centre to set up an Employee’s State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital in Wayanad, his constituency.
In a letter to Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav, Mr. Gandhi said setting up an ESIC hospital in the district was a long-standing demand.
Wayanad was the only aspirational district in the State, and had one of the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribes and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the State, he said.
The district is also at a tri-junction of three States and is marked by a large protected area. The challenging terrain coupled with limited access to tertiary health care called for concerted action to address gaps in health care infrastructure, he said.
The region is home to a large number of tea estates, coffee plantations, and migrant workers. The Code on Social Security, 2020, provided an option to plantation owners to enrol their workers as members of ESIC, he said. “This is an important step towards providing a safety net for our tea estate workers, many of whom have worked in these estates for generations,” he said.
The constituency might not meet the stipulated criteria laid down for the establishment of an ESIC hospital, particularly the norm regarding the number of Insured Person (IP) population in the peripheral area, but the Union government should consider making a special exception given the unique circumstances, he said.
The hospital would serve beneficiaries from bordering States, and provide a fillip to health care infrastructure in the region, added Mr. Gandhi.
